Cuddle
by Dakk Tribal
Summary: Ichigo and Orihime deal with their rather restless baby boy late one night... / random dribble written for IchiHime Week


It was well past midnight when Ichigo heard a soft whisper in his ear.

"Ichigo..."

Opening his eyes slightly at the sound of his name given by her soft voice, Ichigo slightly tightened his embrace on Orihime. "Yeah?"

Ichigo felt too comfortable to move, but there was something nagging at his wife. She answered as softly as before, "I think Kazui's stirring..."

Holding his breath to deafen the sound of his breathing, Ichigo kept quiet as the muffled sound of his son from the next room became quite apparent now that he was aware of it. It was an off and on crying like he was drifting to and from sleep. "Good ear, 'Hime." Though sleep would normally cause a person to wait a little longer before going to their child, the Kurosaki's felt a slight urge to go off at the first sign of trouble. Even Ichigo got up after letting Orihime go, but he soon found himself following her out the door and what one would call slow running to the next room to check on their three month old son.

Outside the door the parents listened, but sure enough their baby was starting to cry. Ichigo slowly and quietly opened the door but the creaking of the door stirred the little boy more and he started to wail for real.

Orihime, her hair looking great and her face appearing cheerful despite the fact that she had only gotten three hours of sleep for the night moved past her husband, "Ichigo we need to get that door checked sometime." She walked over to Kazui's crib and she slowly picked him up, and she took a good sniff of the air but found nothing. "Luckily he doesn't need to be changed."

The little boy immediately stopped sniffling, and he kicked his legs. Ichigo noticed Kazui was wearing white pajamas with little blue bear patterns on it, something Orihime had found at Urahara's shop. Once Kazui was in his mother's arms he calmed down a good deal and even stopped crying once she held him against her shoulder and slowly ran her hand up and down his back.

Ichigo saw this and just watched for a few long minutes, noticing how serene his son appeared to be, as well as how much Orihime seemed to glow when holding him or even just being within arm's reach of him.

"Ichigo?"

Snapping out of his thought, Ichigo responded, "Yeah?"

"He might be hungry, I'm going to see if he will eat," she said as she put Kazui in her arms like a cradle and started to unbutton the night shirt she was wearing.

This was the cue Ichigo had waited for, "Okay then, I'll go and see if I can do something for his bed." By the time he had started to move he saw that his wife already had Kazui latched onto her breast. Though it was a normal procedure of being a mother, and Orihime herself had insisted on breastfeeding Kazui (thanks in large part to Rangiku Matsumoto because it supposedly helped with mother-child bonding and was healthier for the baby, though Ichigo felt she said that for another reason which may or may not include flustering the child's father), and though he had fully accepted it Ichigo surprisingly found himself flustered when she would do it in public. Orihime didn't mind it though, and the others teased him about it at times. Even Rukia added salt to the problem even though she did the exact same thing in the Soul Society with her own daughter.

Like I would want to think about her at the moment, he thought as he tended to Kazui's bed. He had his own son to think about and there wasn't a minute that went by that he didn't think of his son or wife.

He straightened out the sheet and readjusted the blanket and pillows as well as the little stuffed rabbit given to him by Renji. One of Chappy's old friends apparently and finally Ichigo had a use for the little thing. "Okay that's done," he turned to Orihime, and saw that she was well into feeding Kazui, and the kid must have been starving. Orihime had a large bust to begin with but during her pregnancy and even a few months after she had given birth her chest was still bigger than it was before.

Though the process slightly stirred her husband, Orihime didn't show any signs of embarrassment. The least she felt was a little tickle but that was Kazui's fault. "He's far from finished I think. Why don't you go back to bed and I'll meet you when I'm done."

Ichigo shook his head, not wanting to leave his wife alone. "I'm not as sleepy as I was before. I think I'll stay until you're ready to go back with me."

"But Ichigo, I'm only down the hall from you, it's not like I'm going anywhere," she said, and Kazui's hand touched her breast, diverting her attention back to her son. "You obviously have a larger tummy than you're letting on if you're still hungry after eating earlier, Kazui."

 _'I just hope he hasn't inherited your unique appetite, Orihime,'_ Ichigo thought. "'Hime, I'd rather stay with you until he's done." His protective side was starting to show.

His tease got her attention, but she didn't budge. "I'm serious Ichigo. Not until he settles down."

Knowing he wasn't going to win, Ichigo decided to let it slide this time. "Fine. I'll wait for you back in our room." He noticed her nod to him and he went on past them, but not before stopping to give his son a kiss on the forehead, and then one to Orihime on the forehead as well. "Don't be long, okay?"

Orihime's smile was angelic, "I don't think I have much of a say in the matter."

Ichigo chuckled, and he thought he heard Kazui coo as soon as he stepped out the door.

After going and getting the bed straightened to occupy his time until Orihime would return, Ichigo got into bed and noticed the time. It was nearly two thirty in the morning. He'd have to get up soon to do his job but until then he planned to sleep, though at this pace he would be doing it alone.

Closing his eyes Ichigo heard the soft footsteps that signaled Orihime's return to the bedroom. She came back into the bedroom, her gown noticeably down further than normal.

"He must have been hard to let go of this time, huh?"

Orihime got into bed, and he saw that she hadn't buttoned up her night shirt, "Nope, he never does, though I will admit I thought he looked so cute while he slept on me that I had the urge to cuddle with him for a few minutes."

The smile on Ichigo's face shined in the darkness, "Figured as much. He loves you a lot."

"Not as much as you. He never cries when you hold him," she got under the covers, lying on her back. She sighed lightly, relaxing into her bed, and she began to feel the urge to sleep return though it would take a bit before she would fall asleep for real. Luckily Ichigo was there to help her along the way.

Ichigo got closer to Orihime, she moved onto her side and he ended up in the spoon position with her and his arm around her waist. Though he couldn't see it, Orihime had a small smile on her lovely face.

Orihime whispered, "Hey Ichigo…"

Her husband kissed the side of Orihime's neck, and she shivered as a result. "Orihime?"

She held back a giggle, "That tickles…"

Ichigo smiled, "Is that so?" His hand went to her stomach and he started to run his fingers in her ticklish spots.

She began to shake against him and kicking her legs as his fingers went faster.

She tried to hold in her voice and not scream her lungs out, "Ichigo, please stop it!"

Orihime squirmed and in her fit she hit her head on the headboard really hard. She rubbed her head and sat up, Ichigo following her with an apologetic look on his face. "Owwie…"

Ichigo rubbed his eyes, remembered how hard Orihime's head was (having had experienced it in the past on more than one occasion), "Sorry."

"It's alright, let's just hope we didn't wake up—"

Kazui's screaming began before she even finished her sentence. Now Ichigo felt even more of a jerk, but he had a feeling Orihime would still forgive him regardless.

She got up out of bed, "I'll be right back."

Ichigo laid back down and closed his eyes, he heard Kazui's screaming died down instantly after hearing Orihime's soothing words to him. She handled him easily. Now she'd be coming back any second, he thought.

The bedroom door opened up and Ichigo didn't bother opening his eyes as he felt Orihime sitting down on the mattress. Ichigo rolled on his side.

"Here we go," he heard Orihime say at which point Ichigo opened his eyes and saw that Orihime had just placed Kazui between himself and her.

Ichigo didn't even ask why.

She answered anyway, "Well, I thought he'd sleep easier if he was with us…not to mention that we could also sleep easier." He felt her eyes linger on him for a little bit, not forgetting the tickling he had given her earlier.

Ichigo nodded, noting how right on the mark she was. There'd be no way he'd be able to play around with their son in the bed with them, so it was all in all a good thing. He scooted in close to Kazui, who was somehow about ready to go to dreamland.

Orihime didn't even pull the covers up, the bed was too warm anyway.

For a few long moments there was silence, but the only one who was truly asleep was Kazui. Ichigo was watching his son sleep, and Orihime had her hand on his stomach. Ichigo didn't know if she was out but from the smile on her face she must be thinking of something lovely.

Ichigo felt more at peace right now than he had earlier, with his lovely wife and beautiful son in such close proximity. His beloved family…

Ichigo felt like he was the happiest, and in some cases, luckiest man in the world to have a family like the one he had.

* * *

I wrote this little quick shot as a way to celebrate the anniversary of the ending of Bleach, where it was revealed that Ichigo and Orihime ended up together (something that I had hoped for years) and even had a son together.


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